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There are bugs that cure infections, protect against stroke and even keep your skin clear: The germs you DON’T want to wash away

Submitted by IWB, on March 26th, 2013

As you scrub your hands with antibacterial soap and gargle with antiseptic mouthwash just think: each of us is more bacteria than we are human.

‘People are generally surprised to learn that there are ten times more bacterial cells than human cells in our bodies,’ says Professor Philip Calder, a nutritional immunology expert from the University of Southampton.

‘Actually, in terms of cell count, a person is 90 per cent bacteria.’

It seems that the type of bugs you have in your body can affect mood. In one study, mice fed ‘gut friendly’ bacteria were less anxious

Living within us are around 100?trillion bacteria — known as the micro biome — and 95 per cent of them live in our gut.

Other colonies are on our skin and in our respiratory tracts, mouths and genital areas.

Most are harmless and beneficial to us but there are bad bacteria with the potential to cause ill health — so why are we not permanently sick?

The secret lies in the balance of the bugs, which exist in a fragile ecosystem. Knock one out and the system goes haywire.